Petrobras probe finds corruption, one executive fired -source

RIO DE JANEIRO Nov 19 (Reuters) - Brazil's state-run oil
firm Petrobras has fired one executive for alleged
corruption and identified about 15 other employees also involved
in irregular contracts with suppliers, a source familiar with
the situation said on Wednesday.

The partial results of an internal investigation were
presented at a board meeting on Friday, where the dismissed
executive was identified as part of Petrobras' engineering
department, based at a research center in Rio de Janeiro, the
source said on condition of anonymity.

The firing is part of a bribery scandal in which prosecutors
allege Petrobras systematically overpaid for work by contractors
and that the excess funds were then illegally funneled to
political parties, including that of President Dilma Rousseff.

"It is not suspicion of irregularity, it is a step beyond
that. They are already objectively held responsible by the
investigation," the source said of the Petrobras employees
mentioned in the initial report.

While only one firing had been confirmed, said the source,
the other employees involved in irregular contracts were likely
to lose their jobs eventually. The values involved in the
contracts were not immediately available, the source added.

Petrobras said on Monday it had hired legal consultants to
investigate allegations of corruption. The company's
representatives were not immediately available to comment on the
initial findings.

Last week Brazilian federal police arrested Renato Duque,
Petrobras' former director of corporate services, and several
executives at construction and engineering companies linked to
the scandal.

The source said there were around eight employees linked to
irregular contract deals at Petrobras' Abreu e Lima refinery in
Pernambuco, and about as many responsible for another refinery
in Rio de Janeiro, Comperj.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga and Marta Nogueira, writing by
Stephen Eisenhammer; editing by Andrew Hay)